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CORONAVIRUS

COVID-19 update: Thursday, Oct. 22

Posted

COVID-19 Statistics (Update: approximately 9:15 a.m. MDT Thursday, Oct 22, 2020)

pos=positive; rec=recovered; hosp=hospitalized; cap=capacity; b=billion; m=million; t=thousand

New Mexico Oct 21: 38,715 cases, 1,078,087 tests (3.5911% pos), 950 died, 20,332 rec. 202 hosp. Oct 20: 37,896 cases, 1,070,581 tests (3.5397% pos), 942 died, 20,165 rec. 205 hosp.

Doña Ana County Oct 21: 5,073 cases, 96,044 tests (5.282% pos), 64 died, 2,494 rec. Oct 20: 4,902 cases, 94,963 tests (5.162% pos), 63 died, 2,462 rec.

Regional hospitals (Doña Ana, Luna, Catron, Grant, Sierra, Socorro, Lincoln, Hidalgo, Otero counties) Oct 20: 66 cases, 61 of 112 ICU beds, 22 of 82 ventilators in use. Oct 7: 30 cases; 65 ICU, 21 vents. Sep 30: 22 cases; 56 ICU, 17 vents. Sep 16: 7 cases; 52 ICU, 17 vents. Sep 8: 9 cases; 53 ICU, 17 vents. Aug 26: 13 cases; 50 ICU, 13 vents. Aug 19: 17 cases; 47 ICU, 17 vents. (ICU beds and ventilators are all patients, not just COVID-19.)

Texas Oct 21: 838,809 cases, 17,201 died, 739,140 rec, 4,782 hosp. Oct 20: 833,557 cases, 17,087 died, 733,758 rec, 4,588 hosp. (Lab test positive: Oct 20: 8.72%, Oct 18: 8.57%, Oct 17: 8.18%, Oct. 14: 7.69%, Oct 11: 7.52%, Oct 10: 7.19%, Oct 7: 8.02%, Oct 6: 8.08%, Oct 5: 8.06%, Oct 4: 7.97%, Oct 3: 7.57%, Sep 29: 8.74%, Sep 28: 9%)

El Paso County Oct 22: 36,025 cases, 377,403 tests (9.37% pos; 7-day aver: 14.86%), 567 died, 25,875 rec, 571 hosp.  Oct 21: 34,760 cases, 370,903 tests (9.55% pos; 7-day aver: 13.74%), 563 died, 25,209 rec, 578 hosp.

Mexico Oct 22: 867,559 cases, 6,854/m, 87,415 died. Oct 21: 860,714 cases, 86,893 died.

Estado Chihuahua Oct 21: 20,470 cases, 1,659 died, 10,842 rec. Oct 20: 20,143 cases, 1,634 died, 10,434 rec.

Ciudad Juarez Oct 21: 10,410 cases, 1,019 died. Oct 20: 10,329 cases, 1,007 died.

United States Oct 22: 8,378,569 cases, 25,424/m, 222,157 died. Oct 21: 8,316,019 cases, 220,987 died.

World Oct 22: 41,281,842 cases, 5,309/m, 1,132,169 died. Oct 21: 40,862,940 cases, 5,255/m, 1,126,142 died.

Population Worldwide 7.8b; United States 330m, New Mexico 2.1m, Doña Ana County 218t; Texas 30m, El Paso County 841t; Mexico 129m, Estado de Chihuahua 3.77m, Ciudad Juarez 1.5m; Canada 38m.

COVID-19 Timeline 

Dec 31, 2019 First cases confirmed in Wuhan, China Jan 21, 2020 First U.S. case confirmed, in Washington State Jan 30 World Health Organization declares global health emergency Feb 29 First U.S. death reported, in Washington State Mar 11 NM reports first cases, declares public health emergency Mar 13 U.S. declares national health emergency Mar 23 NM closes nonessential businesses, prohibits mass gatherings June 1 N.M. allows indoor dining, gyms at 50% cap; retail stores, malls, houses of worship at 25% Jul 13 NM bans indoor dining; limits gyms, close-contact businesses to 25% cap Aug 29 NM restores indoor dining at 25% cap; increases houses of worship to 40%; museums with static displays can open at 25% cap; gatherings limited to 10 people Sep 18 NM permits youth sports conditioning, state park overnight camping, swimming pools to open, each in groups up to 10 Oct 16: NM limits gatherings to five people; maximum hotel occupancy reduced to 60% for state-certified facilities, 25% for not certified; 10 p.m. close for businesses serving alcohol Oct. 23: NM restaurants, breweries, retail stores, gyms, salons, must close for two weeks if they have four positive tests in 14 days; state museums, cultural sites closed; 10 p.m. close for retail stores; restaurants, breweries must spot test employees, keep log of onsite diners, do training.

What is COVID-19?  

Coronaviruses cause diseases in mammals and birds. They were discovered in 1931 in domesticated chickens in North Dakota. The first human coronavirus was isolated in in the U.S. and UK in 1965. At least seven strains of human coronavirus are known. Coronaviruses cause respiratory infections ranging from the common cold to Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The name comes from the Latin corona (“crown”) because of protein spikes on the virus’ surface that resemble crowns.

The newest coronavirus causes COVID-19 (COronaVIrus Disease 2019), first reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019. The most common symptoms are fever, dry cough and tiredness; less common are aches and pains, nasal congestion, headache, sore throat, conjunctivitis, diarrhea, loss of taste or smell, skin rash or discoloration of fingers or toes. Symptoms are usually mild and begin gradually. 80% of infections are mild or asymptomatic, 20% are more serious, with difficulty breathing; about 40% are asymptomatic.

H1N1 influenza A (a different virus) caused two global pandemics: 1) Spanish Flu: Feb 1918-Apr 1920, up to 500m cases, 50m died, world pop: 1.8b; 2) Swine Flu: Jan 2009-Aug 2010; 491,382 known/700m-1.4b estimated cases, 150-575t died, world pop: 6.8b. Influenza (flu) is a virus that attacks the respiratory system.

Other flu pandemics. 1957-58: 2m died worldwide, 70k in U.S.; 1968-69: 1m died worldwide, 34t in U.S.

Seasonal flu. U.S.: Oct 1, 2019-Apr 4, 2020 (flu season): 39-56m cases, 410-740t hosp, 24-62t died. Annually since 2010: 9-45m cases, 140-810t hosp, 12-61t died. Worldwide: 250-500t annual flu deaths.

COVID-19 Information Online

World Health Organization www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019

Global COVID-19 statistics https://news.google.com/covid19/map?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen

National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention www.cdc.gov

New Mexico Department of Health https://cvprovider.nmhealth.org/public-dashboard.html

New Mexico public health orders https://cv.nmhealth.org/public-health-orders-and-executive-orders/

NMDOH additional resources https://cv.nmhealth.org/

Doña Ana County/Joint Information Center www.donaanacounty.org

City of Las Cruces www.las-cruces.org/AlertCenter.aspx and covid19lascruces.com

Texas Department of State Health Services www.dshs.texas.gov/coronavirus

El Paso County COVID-19 statistics http://epstrong.org/results.php

COVID-19, Coronavirus

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